Drinking cup



March s, 1938. R. L. GRAY n AL 2,110,765

' DR INKING CUP Filed Feb; 18, 1936 //v VEN TOPS: ROBERT L. GRAY Lou/s MLac/n.

Patented Mar. 8, 1938 PATENT OFFICE DRINKING CUP Robert L. Gray,Brooklyn, N. Y., and Louis V.

Lucia,

West Hartford, Conn.,

assignors to Lueup Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Application February 18, 1936, Serial No. 64,506 8 Claims. (01.229-15) This invention relates to drinking cups, and more particularlyto that type of cups which are made from paper or similar fibrousmaterial.

These cups, as now commonly made, consist of -a blank cut from a sheetof paper material which is folded upon itself to form a container ordrinking cup.

Although there are paper drinking cups which have a folded, or beadeddrinking edge, the most economical type of cups are simply produced froma thin sheet of paper and with a thin drinking edge which is comprisedonly of a single thickness of the paper material. It is well known thatsuch cups with thin edges, although the most economical to produce, areunsafe in their use for drinking astheir thin edges can cause injury bycutting the lips of the user.

An object of our invention, therefore, is to provide a drinking cuphaving a safe edge withsaid edge.

A further object is to provide a cup of the type described which has adrinlnng edge that is in effect, what might be properly termed, avelvet" edge, inasmuch as the said edge has a pile consistingof loosefibers similar to velvet.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a rear view of a flat type paper drinking cup comprising ourinvention.

Figure 2 is a side view in elevation showing the said cup in itsextended form.

Figure 3 is a view, in perspective, of another type of a cup to whichour invention may also be applied.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale, in verticalsection, illustrating our improved drinking edge for a paper cup.

Figure 5 is a similar view illustrating the common form of the drinkingedge of said cups.

As illustrated in the drawing: The numeral 5 denotes a drinking cupwhich is formed from a blank of paper that is folded over upon itselfand secured together at its overlapping edges as at 6. The bottom of thesaid cup is formed by further folding the said blank as indicated at I.

In a cup of the form shown in Figures 1 and 50 2, the front, or drinkingside of the cup is curved,

' 55 In the form of a cup shown in Figure 3, the

out necessitating the folding or beading of the drinking edge ii of thecup is straight and any portion thereof may be used in drinking.

Our invention relates particularly to the provision of a soft drinkingedge for a cup of the type commonly made from a paper blank and whichhas a thin edge of single thickness."

In other words, by our invention we provide for a cup of the characterdescribed, a drinking edge which is velvety, as that illustrated inFigure 4 of the drawing, instead of an edge which is sharp as at l2, asshown in Figure 5, and which is the form of an edge that all of the cupsof said type now have for the reason that the said edge is thus formedby the present method of cutting the blanks from a. stack of papersheets with 'a cutting die upon a wooden block.

The objects of this invention may be accomplished in any suitable mannerwhereby the drinking edge of a cup will be formed in any desired shapeand still leave the'flbers of the blank material freely extended alongthe said edge to provide a velvety edge.

In one method of providing such an edge for the cups, the blanks are cutfrom a single sheet of paper by a male and female type of cutting diewhich may be dulled along that portion thereof which cuts the drinkingedge of the blank so that, in the cutting operation, the'material alongthe said edge is pulled apart, instead of being cut or sheared; thusleaving the fibres of the said material in a disrupted state and therebyforming an edge which is softer in texture than the material of the cup.

Another method whereby the said edge may be obtained, is that ofloosening the fibers along the said drinking edge after the blanks havebeen cut by the above described present method, either before or afterthe cup has been formed. This may be done by means of a wire brush, orby what is called in the art, a deckeling process, or further, by thetreatment of the said drinking edge with certain chemical, either aloneor in combination with a. mechanical process.

It will be clearly seen, from the illustrations I in the drawing, thatthe said drinking edge will then be lined with a pile of loose fibersfrom the material of the blank so that it cannot cut the user's lips.

It is desired to have it understood that although we have described someof the methods whereby a velvet or soft edgemay be formed for a paperdrinking cup to render the said cup safe in the use thereof, othermethods may be used, if desired, without departing from thescope of ourinvention.

We claim:

1. A drinking cup oi! the character described in which the materialthereof is substantially softened in texture at the drinking edge ofsaid cup.

2. A paper drinking cup having a velvety drinking edge of singlethickness comprising a pile of loose fibres.

3. A drinking cup of the character described formed from a blank ofsheet material and havhaving a free edge along which'the fibres of thepaper are purposely disrupted to provide a substantial pile of loosefibres and thereby reduce the cutting tendency of said edge.

7. A paper cup 01' the character described formed from a. blank which isfirst cut and then 7 treated to change the structure of the free edgethereof to reduce the cutting tendency of the said edge which forms thedrinking edge 01 said cup.

8. A cup formed from. a blank of paper which is especially treated,either during the operation of cutting the same or by a separateoperation. to change the structure of the free edge of said blank toreduce the cutting tendency of the said edge thereof which forms thedrinking edge of said cup.

ROBT. L. GRAY. LOUIS V. LUCIA.

